It’s the time of year when, once upon a time, we’d be talking about the Electronic Entertainment Expo – E3. That event didn’t happen during the shutdowns caused by covid-13 and this year it didn’t happen because the entire industry has shifted. Instead, we get briefings and events from the various publishers themselves.
Xbox showcases games coming to its gaming platforms
Sunday has traditionally been the day for Xbox, and that was true last Sunday when the Microsoft division delivered trailer after trailer for a solid hour, and then spent another forty-five minutes diving deep into Starfield, the highly anticipated game from Bethesda, the studio responsible for the role-playing classic franchises the Elder Scrolls and Fallout.
Starfield, which releases on September 6, continues to astound. We saw lots of footage of the game, which looks to pull bits from other space exploration games like No Man’s Sky and Mass Effect. But it’s very much a Bethesda Game Studio game with other bits you’ll realize are similar to elements from Elder Scrolls and Fallout.
Todd Howard, who leads the development teams at Bethesda, says that they’ve been talking about doing a game set in space for years, but it’s taken this long for the technology to enable what they wanted to do.
In the game, players will become part of Constellation, an organization set up to explore, and as in other Bethesda games, you’ll be able to make the game your own in how you build your space ship, the companions you add to your crew, and how you develop your character.
As for the Xbox preview, it was non-stop game reveals and demos with a total of 27 games featured.
Among them were exclusives like Senua’s Saga: Hellblade II, Fable (with Richard Ayodade in a leading role, it seems?), Clockwork Revolution (with a time reversal mechanic), and South of Midnight (set in what looks like the bayous of the American south).
There’s also a new Microsoft Flight Simulator coming next year, but in the meantime you can pilot an ornithopter, the flying vehicles from Dune, in an expansion coming to the existing flight sim. That arrives when the second film releases on November 3.
And Sea of Thieves is also getting an expansion thanks to a partnership with Lucasfilm Games that incorporates Guybrush Threepwood and the Legend of Monkey Island.
Games developed by external studios that were profiled during the showcase included Jusant, a puzzle game about rock climbing, Payday 3, and Still Wakes the Deep, a horror game from the Chinese Room.
Here’s the entire Xbox Showcase and Starfield Direct.
Highlights from Summer Game Fest
Xbox and Starfield were part of the Summer Game Fest program, which kicked off on June 8 and included in-person and online presentations by publishers like Capcom, Devolver, and Ubisoft, as well as showcases of PC games and indie games.
Among the highlights:
- Devolver has sequels to two big games, Human: Fall Flat 2 and the Talos Principle II.
- Larian Studios provided more details about the long awaited, Baldur’s Gate 3, which is coming on August 31.
- Capcom’s got a sequel to one of its sleeper hits in Dragon’s Dogma 2.
And Ubisoft has a bunch of great things in the works, including:
From Massive and Ubisoft, the first open world Star Wars game is set after the events of the Empire Strikes Back and features Kay Vest, a Han Solo analogue. It’s coming out next year.
Also from Massive, this one has you playing as a Na’vi child raised by the humans and the RDA corporation. It’s also an open world adventure. It’s expected this December.
This is the origin story of Basim, who was introduced in Assassin’s Creed Valhalla. Set in Baghdad, Mirage is scheduled for release on October 12.
Diablo IV is dark and dreadful and I’m playing it with my kids
I’ve mentioned Diablo IV before. A few times. I talked about it while it was in development and I played the beta along with many others. Now I’ve been playing the finished game and enjoying more than ever, in part because I’m playing it with my kids.
I should mention that my kids are closer to being adults at this point than they are children. Otherwise, I wouldn’t be playing a mature-rated game with them. But because they’re comfortable with dark themes – Diablo is about the battle between light and dark after all – and they’re comfortable with fantasy violence (and blood and gore), we now have another game we can play together.
Being able to play couch co-op may be my favourite thing about Diablo IV. I love the different character classes – necromancer for me, rogue for my daughter, sorcerer for my son – and the graphics are stunning on our 4K television. The rich, nuanced story and excellent acting only make this a more compelling experience for us to enjoy together.
Is it any wonder that Diablo IV is Blizzard’s fastest selling game ever, with more than “$666 million USD” in sales in its first week?
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